Waited for the Trade: A Batch of Shorties

by Dan

With the craziness of my job the last several weeks (thanks stock markets!), I've been completely MIA from most things Internet. Yet, the comics and trades kept on coming. So, here's some shorty reviews of sixteen trades and graphic novels from nine different publishers. From the excellent Black Summer and Immortal Iron Fist to the complete opposite of excellent Black Diamond and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed plus plenty in between.









Army @ Love Vol. 2: Generation Pwned – More often than not, I love Rick Veitch’s writer/artist work. But after giving up on the critically acclaimed Can’t Get No, I was worried going into Army @ Love. Thankfully, this has been an awesome satire book with plenty of sex, drugs and war. A wonderfully crafted series that ended all too soon (there is a second “season” out now, but I’ve read that it goes in a very different, yet interesting, direction). B+

Authority: Prime – Authority fights StormWatch and it’s all Bendis’ fault. I always knew that guy was up to something! Wait, Bendix, not Bendis. Eh. Much less interesting now. An okay check in with the WildStorm universe, but after the excellent Authority Revolution it’s a clear step down in quality. C+

Black Diamond – For a story about a cross-country, raised superhighway they spend WAY too much time on anything but the cross-country, raised superhighway. Overall, this was really disappointing. The art at the beginning was just not my thing, but when it became more iconic and more graphic designer-y at the end, I really enjoyed it. D-

Black Summer – This was just an awesome Warren Ellis series. Mostly, I saw it to be Ellis' final word on The Authority and what a terrible path they would eventually have taken. Gory and violent with lots of commentary about the U.S. government. Great stuff. A

Classic Battlestar Galactica – I don’t know why, but I still dig the original Battlestar stuff more than the new. Granted, I lost track of the new show after the first season and Dynamite flooding the market with “New” Battlestar books has been too overwhelming to follow. Thankfully, Rick Remender (a fave writer thanks to Dark Horse’s Fear Agent) was let loose on the old characters and creates a fun episode of the classic show. B

Criminal Macabre: My Demon Baby – I was regretting this purchase before I read it, as I couldn't really remember how I felt about the first two collections I read years ago (apparently there's been two more that I missed). That said, I completely dug this four-issue story. Niles has a lot of Ellis in his lead character, Cal McDonald. Lots of dark humor fun and I may have to figure out what the other two books are and grab those. B





Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 2: The 7 Capital Cities of Heaven – I’ve never been an Iron Fist or Heroes for Hire or Kung Fu fan. Ever. And yet, I completely and thoroughly enjoy this title and all its Iron Fist-tastic history. I did get a little confused with who was who, including the reveal at the end that references the annual included earlier in the collection. So, sometimes there is too much history and too many characters to keep straight, but that just makes me want to sit down and read Brubaker and Faction’s entire run once volume three comes out. Great art from Aja too. This is quality comics. A-

Maintenance Vols. 1 & 2 – This Oni series just makes me giggle. Thanks to Customer Appreciation Day (aka Free Comic Book Day) for finding this one. Reading these on the can is fun, but got surreal when our trusty janitors took an adventure into the can. B+

Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors – Turns out I've read a bunch of these shorts featuring the Bullpen Bits characters and, in all honesty, it's just not that funny the second time around. Some of the later stories that riff on Marvel events like Civil War and World War Hulk are amusing, but overall this just doesn't hold up to multiple reads. B-

New York Four – Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly do it again. Although I was frustrated by the fact that there could be a lot more story told and, more than likely, it won't happen. B+

Power Pack: Day One – A fun revamp of the kids' origin story. I've never read the original version, but I'm sure this has been updated to be, ya know, entertaining. Anyone that's been reading this series of mini-series will enjoy this about as much as the others. I'm really looking forward to the Skrulls digest though. B-

Star Trek: The Return of the Worthy – The last reprint Titan did of the old DC version of the original Trek. The main story about The Worthy was a completely predictable, 100% Trek message type of story. Not bad, but nothing new either. C+

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – When I preordered this, I was already dropping the last of the Dark Horse titles, Legacy, from my pull list. I figured this was a last shot at Dark Horse’s current Star Wars universe (although I am checking out the current Clone Wars mini). Even more concerning was the fact that this book was based on the video game of the same name and was serving as a way to fill in some of the back-story. Unfortunately, the book reads like a video game with all the paces and boss challenges included. This is definitely not for anyone but fans of the game, and even then I’m not sure it’s good on any level. D

Too Cool to be Forgotten – Very cool story that gets somewhat sidetracked/rushed at the end in order to wrap up the main ideas about father/son even though 90% of the book was just about the son. I get what Robinson was going for, and he succeeds for that 90%, but I wish the end had been drawn out or built up to better. A-

Wolverine: Death of Wolverine – This collection starts off interesting enough with Jason Aaron and Howard Chaykin’s “Man in the Pit” issue. Wolverine has been captured and put in a pit where he’s shot a few hundred times every 15 minutes to keep him subdued. The rest of the collection is Marc Guggenheim and Chaykin’s Logan Dies story, which rewrites Wolverine’s healing powers as a literal fight with Death every time he’s extremely injured. A bit odd, but, like the first story interesting. Unfortunately Chaykin’s art is incredibly distracting – sketchy and blocky with odd close ups. B-

Wolverine: Get Mystique – Hey, a Wolverine story that actually ties in to current continuity! Wolverine is chasing down Mystique after her betrayal during Messiah CompleX. Cool enough of an idea. Unfortunately, it gets a bit convoluted due to writer Jason Aaron throwing them into the middle of Iraq and Afghanistan for no real reason other than those are topically locations. C
Read more!

Trades Wait for Me – Filthy Painkillers

by Dan

Before I decided to re-read New X-Men in order to give my Unpopular Opinion a couple weeks ago, I was in the middle of a very different Morrison title, The Filth. Throw in Dynamite’s Essential Painkiller Jane collection and I’ve got myself a couple trades that waited for me.








The Filth - Once I got my Unpopular Opinion written, I finished this 13 issue maxi-series. One thing I quickly realized is that I don't dislike Morrison's writing as much when he's just doing his own thing and not trying to squeeze familiar characters into his unfamiliar, and sometimes out-of-character, plots. Overall, I liked The Filth and the fun and twisted stories. Of course, what’s not to like about Communist talking chimps, microbiotic Teletubbie-like civilizations and a porn star with super-potent black jizz? Unfortunately, those are only subplots and when the book is focused on The Hand, the wacky government organization that deals with horrible things the world doesn’t need to know about (see super-potent black jizz), the story gets lost and Morrison seems to have a lot of disconnects in his scripts. The art by Chris Weston, Gary Erskine and Matt Hollingsworth is fantastic. Every character is completely unique. Every face is expressive. And every page pops with color. Nothing I'd really read through again, but worth it for the hardcore Morrison fans or those that like twisted, adult content in their funny books. B-



Essential Painkiller Jane - To be completely honest, I have no idea why I bought this six-issue collection of the original Event Comics series. I have the comics in the basement. I could break them out whenever I want. I could savor the awesomeness that was any Event comic’s “back matter” - Cup O’ Joes, Jimmy's Box, Ads for the fan club....all that fun stuff that a huge JoeyQ & JimmyP fanboy like me loved. Oh, and a fun story too.

Speaking of which, the story here holds up better than I would have ever imagined. Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn spin three very good plotlines over five issues, with pitch perfect art from Rick Leonardi and Jimmy Palmiotti. The zero issue that leads off the collection--and muddies the waters of Jane’s origin more than it clears them--would be a decent capper to the series if it was actually at the end of the book instead of the beginning. Overall, I’m thrilled that these stories still hold up and, while I prefer the issues to the trade, would recommend this to anyone who digs action or crime comics. A- Read more!

Unpopular Opinions: Morrison's New X-Men

by Dan

With all of this week's X-Men talk and the recent Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? issue teasing us with the idea that cat Beast is a skrull, I got into my "Morrison's New X-Men run is the most overrated bunch of nonsense and I love it when stuff is undone" rant for the 38th time since #154 came out four years ago. So, I decided to re-read the run over the last few days and see if my rant has any merit or if time has erased my Unpopular Opinion.

The main reactions I remember having as the issues came out were mostly negative: hated cat Beast, hated "secondary mutation," hated Cassandra Nova, hated Xorn revealed to be Magneto, hated Igor Kordey's multitude of fill-in issues, hated Fantomex, hated the whole Weapon Plus concept and hated the future arc epilogue. On the positive side of things, I remember great art from Frank Quitely, particularly the silent "‘Nuff Said" issue, and how well the "Riot at Xavier's" arc worked. So, I was expecting the re-read to be a pretty boring, unpleasant experience.

Right out of the gate we get the "E is for Extinction" arc in which Genosha is destroyed by Cassandra Nova, Emma Frost survives the massacre by having a secondary mutation to diamond form and Cassandra swaps minds with Xavier and then shoots her body with Xavier's mind trapped in it. Wow, that wasn’t boring at all! Lots of gorgeous art from Quitely, and Morrison only falters a couple of times in the opening issue trying to make the characters say things that are way out of character. Particularly, when Beast is discussing his latest feline form and blurts out “I feel like a Hindu sex god,” or Xavier’s incredibly zealous, manic, gun-toting crazy portrayal. But that’s just the new writer breaking in. Right?

Unfortunately, the second big arc, “Imperial,” doesn’t really answer the question. Morrison nails the Jean/Wolverine forbidden love idea and we get a great new character in Xorn, but he also sticks us with X-Corps, Beak and Angel *shudder* and some big plot points that happen off panel. It’s one thing for Xavier to have contacted Lilandra and the Shi’ar to go on a bit of vacation off panel, it’s a whole other thing to have Xavier and Cassandra Nova switch bodies off panel and have it revealed in clunky exposition. There are some very interesting ideas laid out with the U-Men and John Sublime, but they feel more like Cool Big Concepts than anything that is currently going anywhere.

"Imperial" also marks the first of many arcs by Artists Not Named Frank Quitely. Ethan Van Sciver kicks it off and while he has some good moments, he has more rough ones. Particularly in his portrayal of Wolverine, who has grown about a foot since Quitely drew him.

And then we get Igor Kordey.

I think it was Kordey’s work on this title that really put me off it four years ago, but these first couple issues really aren’t too bad. They don’t have the same feeling of fun that Quitely or Van Sciver brought and Kordey’s work seems to take itself too seriously, but it’s not quite so bad.

Maybe that’s because the couple Kordey issues are followed up by Morrison and Quitely’s "‘Nuff Said" issue which is mind-bogglingly gorgeous and each creator plays to the other's strengths. New X-Men #121 is easily my favorite issue of the entire run.

As “Imperial” continues on (wow this arc is long) things begin to fall apart. There is an incredible amount of tedious Morrison techno-babble from the Shi’ar and even more tedious explanations of Nova’s devise machinations and motives. Even Quitely’s usually great art suffers with these scripts. There are also numerous eye-rolling dialogue moments. At one point Logan replies “Crème de la what?” to Emma calling the recently introduced Cuckoos the “Crème de la crème” of their class (that’s right, Wolverine has been all over the world in his century-long life but is a complete idiot when confronted with a bit of well-known French). In the climatic fight between the X-Men and Shi'ar, the Shi’ar supergladiators say nifty keen stuff like “4-Space” and “I’m venting bio-helium” and “Intell-ect De-Gray-ding” and “equipped with mind armor.” It’s all just too much and by the end of the arc becomes unbearable. As does Kordey’s fill-in work. Is that a panel of just a shoulder? Did Wolverine become a crackhead mid page? Is Professor X really a Star Trek alien? Based on the art, the answer to all of those is yes.

As we finally move away from the Shi’ar and Cassandra Nova plots, we start “New Worlds.” There’s no real connection to these issues about Mutant Town, X-Corps and Famtomex other than incredibly bad Kordey art, starting with THE worst panel of Emma Frost ever created.

Story wise, there’s plenty of stuff happening, but none of it seems to matter in the moment. There’s a big “X-Corps debacle” that must have happened in another book and Fantomex leads the London X-Corpsers into a big fight in the Chunnel that ends in Darkstar’s death. Who's Darkstar you asked? So did I. So did Emma Frost. No one ever tells us though. We then jump to Genosha (hey, remember that plot!) for something to do with Unus the Untouchable and X-Treme X-Men (ugh) before heading to Afghanistan, where Logan saves Dust, a character no writer has known what to do with since. Oh, and Beast is telling everyone he’s gay. Frankly, it’s all a bunch of ideas thrown against the wall with the hopes that some of them stick. None of them do.

Oh, sweet relief! “Riot at Xavier’s” features Quitely again, but sadly for the last time. It also features the ridiculous editorial decision to include Ultimate Soulpatch Wolverine (with Dirty Hippy Hair) in the regular Marvel U. Thankfully, that lasted all of two issues, but it scarred me for life. Morrison knocks this story out of the park. Incredible characters, like Quenten Quire and the Stepford Cuckoos, are finally fully developed. The Clockwork Orange-influenced Omega Gang is a great addition to the X-Men mythos and had some great commentary along with them and the climatic fight at the end totally rocked my socks. Great stuff and, like all their issues together, makes me wish Quitely could have been Morrison’s only artist. He clearly understood and could interpret the scripts better than any of the other artists on the run.

The great "Riot at Xavier's" was followed by the incredibly bland “Murder at the Mansion” arc in which we get stuck with uber-cop Bishop and *ugh* Sage from X-Treme X-Men. Jimenez’s art is incredibly bland throughout the arc and the three issues only result in Angel/Beak kids. Oh goody, they are some worthwhile characters. Yeah, sure, it's set-up for the reveal that Sophie is manipulating folks on behalf of someone, but it's just too little plot for three issues.

And then we're on to “Assault on Weapon Plus.” There are some incredible pages of art by Chris Bachalo throughout this four-issue arc. Hell, he even makes Fantomex look cool. (Key word there is "look" because he's still not actually cool.) This is probably some of Bachalo's clearest, most focused work in years (before or since). Sadly, the ideas laid out in this are just terrible and forced. Wolverine is Weapon Ten, not X. Fantomex is Weapon XIII. And Weapon Plus has been creating killers for decades and even had a hand in Operation: Rebirth aka Captain America aka Weapon I. Perhaps it’s the fact that it's Fantomex telling us all this that makes it unlikable as there is nothing likable about Fantomex.

The story moves from the confusing and frustrating "Attack on Weapon Plus" to the plain outlandish, ridiculous and most decried arc, "Planet X." Turns out Sophie of the Cuckoos was working for Magneto, who has been posing as Xorn since his introduction. Wait. What? Xorn was Magneto? Why? How? To this day, it doesn't make any real sense. Xorn was a great character and Morrison did a great job of quickly making him likable and interesting and unique to the X-Men mythos. That is all undone by a really forced, "shocking" plot turn. Things just go downhill from there as Magneto becomes a Kick-head and a mass murderer while Jean dies, comes back and dies again. Magneto is defeated by the crowd not recognizing him and some reverse psychology from the X-Men.

Really?

I hated this arc. More than I hated any of the rest. Morrison tries to swing for the fences but ends up striking out. He's not helped by Jimenez once again on art chores, making the big scenes just plain boring. It's just really unfortunate that Morrison chose to undo some great characters and moments with such a train wreck ending.

Not the final ending though, as we get the four-issue "Here Comes Tomorrow" epilogue to the entire run. Unfortunately, Morrison decides to go over-the-top Cool Big Concept again and most of the four issues come across as random ideas thrown on a page. In short, Cyclops gives up on the X-Men after Jean's death and 150 years later John Sublime, in the body of Beast thanks to Kick (don't think about that too hard), has turned the world into a hellhole and is resurrecting the Phoenix to finally destroy mutantkind. To fill out the extra three issues and give Marc Silvestri pretty and kewl things to draw, we get random shots of a humpback whale X-Man, a guy and his Sentinel buddy, some version of the Stepford Cuckoos (who are revealed to be Weapon XIV), Beak's grandkid Tito (That's right, Tito. I couldn't help but laugh too.) and plenty of desolate earth shots. And finally, Jean somehow joins a phalanx of Phoenix, including Quenten Quire, and reminds Scott to live his life. So we end with Cyclops sticking with the school and kissing Emma instead of giving up, therefore erasing any chance of the "Here Comes Tomorrow" world from happening. Holy hell, Morrison. That was a long way to go to put Emma and Scott together.

Overall, Morrison's run has more peaks and valleys than I remember. I whole-heartedly believe this is an incredibly overrated run, albeit one with a couple fantastic ideas. Kordey and Jimenez were huge mismatches for Morrison's style, making the last year or so all valleys. I might not hate it as much as I used to, but I'm glad most of the changes were retconned, ignored or used sparingly. Now if we can just get Jean Grey to come back. And maybe we are in the very entertaining pages of Cable, but that's a whole other Unpopular Opinion. Read more!

BG Roundtable: Best Batman Villain

by Betsy

Batman is widely considered to have the best Rogue's Gallery of any comic book character. Between the Joker, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, and more, the Dark Knight has his work cut out for him when it comes to keeping the streets of Gotham City safe. This, of course, begs the question - who is the best Batman villian? I rounded up the rogues of the Bad Genious to find out the answer.

Ever contrary, Tim kicked things off by saying, "I'm something of an exception to the 'Batman has awesome villains' consensus. He's got a lot of memorable ones, sure, but the ones that actually threaten him, as opposed to being a bit of entertaining run-around fodder is - I think - a little scarce."

Your Friendly Neighborhood Editor was about to wing a batarang right at Tim's head when he thought better of this stance and continued. "I do like me some Joker though. And Riddler, for all his uselessness. But number one? Mister Freeze."

"Admittedly, this is thanks to the awesome Batman '90s animated series and it shows that the quality of his character varies greatly with how much the writers play to those strengths. But if they do? Wow. Creepy as hell. Intelligent. Driven. Focused. In a gallery of insane rogues, he stands out as remarkably sane. Evil? Perhaps, but always with a touch of ambiguity. Check out Gotham Central 1; he takes the time after being surprised by a pair of police officers to teach one of them the meaning of loss by killing his partner. He's not driven by sadism or malice, but rather by the desire to share his vision of the world. He's right, you see. We just can't see it. In that way he's very much like the best characterizations of the Joker, but where the big J is insane and irrational, Mister Freeze's twisted world view is made all the more sinister by the fact that he is very much compos mentis. Brrr."

Matt was quick to agree. "I don't follow the Batman books all that much but I do have a soft spot for Mr. Freeze. He has more of a hero-like origin, he tried to save his wife with cryogenics. An explosion involving his cryogenic formula, transformed him into Mr. Freeze. But instead of using his gifts heroically he decided to live a life of crime. I also like that he has to wear a cool-looking special armor suit to keep his body at a cold temperature in order to survive. He had a fantastic episode in the first Batman: The Animated Series which made me a fan of the character."

I've got to put in my own vote here for another chilly Batman villain: The Penguin. The Penguin is different from other Bat villains in that he is not crazy. I mean, granted, he dresses like a penguin and has a thing for umbrellas, but he's not a homicidal maniac; he is the gentleman of crime. But if I'm really being honest, part of the reason that the Penguin is my favorite Bat baddie is much the same as the reason that the Penguins are my favorite hockey team. I just think penguins are adorable. That's why I absolutely hated Danny DeVito's interpretation of The Penguin, but also found myself saying, "Aw!" when his penguin army invaded Gotham City. Is that a girly answer, or what?

Chris has trouble making up his mind on this one. "Favorite Bat villain, huh?" he muses. "My first instinct is to say Joker, because he seems like the one who's been fleshed out the most and is the most interesting. But that seems like such a standard answer. Then there's Ra's al Ghul, who is a very complex character, but I haven't had that much experience with him. Now that the Riddler has "switched sides," he makes for an interesting foil to Batman. Is Catwoman considered a villain still? The complicated relationship she has with Batman makes for some very unusual stories."

At this point, Your Friendly Neighborhood Editor picks up her batarang again, telling Chris to make up his mind.

"Overall, I guess I'd have to go with Joker: psychotic, frightening, and he knows how to push Bruce's buttons."

Doug immediately (albeit reluctantly) agreed. "As much as I keep trying to come up with a not-so-obvious answer, my favorite Bat villain is the Joker. I mean, come on, he’s definitely Batman’s #1 enemy. However, I think he’s been ridiculously over-exposed in the past 15 years or so, and I’d really prefer it if DC didn’t loan the Joker out as a nemesis to the likes of Robin and Azrael. And while we’re at it, Ra’s al Ghul could have used a much longer vacation than the one he got after his supposed death."

Doug then picked up his cane and told me all about the problems with "these kids today."

Liana loves the Joker too, but she prefers a different interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime. "When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things was hiding from my annoying little brother and watching the old '60s Batman show on the little tv down in our Queens basement. That show, to me at the time, was about the coolest thing going. My favorite episodes were those staring Cesar Romero as The Joker. Considering how tamed down the characters were from the comic series (something I did not know at the time) and how corny it all was, this silly version of the Joker managed to maintain his essence (minus the homicidal maniac bit) and, for many people, actually provides the definitive version of the character (minus the homicidal maniac bit). Cesar Romero's cackle and creepy painted-over mustache kept the Joker menacing and unrepentant, and it's his particular portrayal that is my favorite Bat villain."

Indeed, it seems that while everybody loves a clown (so why don't you?), everybody loves a slightly different version of The Joker. Take Dan, for example.

"I like Joker. Especially in Batman: The Animated Series Joker. He's funny. And has the same voice as Luke Skywalker. The end." When asked to expand upon that a bit, Dan added, "My favorite Bat villain, by far, is the Joker. The wacky-crazy Joker of Batman The Animated Series, more so than the scary-crazy Joker of the comics. There's just something a little bit freeing with the madcap cartoon version. He's loony but funny. Crazy but not completely homicidal. Luke Skywalker sounding but less whiny. Maybe Dark Knight will change my mind on scary-crazy Joker being the weaker version. I can't wait to find out this weekend."

So, it's settled, then: The Joker is the greatest Bat bad-guy of all time.

Ah, not so fast! First, we need to hear from our resident Bat expert, a man who is about to get a Batman tattoo, Kach.

Kach begins with a history lesson. "In 1989, Tim Burton unleashed the "Bat-Phenomenon" upon our collective brainmeats. During that summer, Batman became fully ingrained into popular culture. You could not walk 2 blocks without seeing someone donning the Bat-Symbol upon their chest. Even the campy television series from the '60s made its return to syndication and was heavily watched by people all over again. The Batman animated series which followed broke so much ground that it is now considered a milestone in animation."

"It took one man less than 10 years to destroy all of that, along with Batman's good name: Joel Schumacher. Schumacher, along with screenwriting sidekick Akiva Goldsman, turned Batman from the dark, Gothic, tough-as-nails vigilante who we'd last seen in Batman Returns into a whiny, love-sick, media darling who had his own Bat-credit card."

Suddenly, nipples & codpieces were added to the costumes, allowing Schumacher to continue his fetish obsessions on film, He also brought the acting talents of Chris O'Donnell & Alicia Silverstone into the mix, and this did not just signify the death knell for their prospective careers, but also killed the Batman film franchise. For years afterwards, a Batman movie, or even any other superhero movie, became a pipe-dream."

Don't hold back, Kach! Tell us how you really feel.



"I cannot think of any villain in Batman's rogue gallery who has done that much damage to the character in that short an amount of time. I mean, Batman bounced back from having his back broken by Bane in far less time than it took his film career to rebound in 2005."

"So, Batman's worst villain in my book: Joel Schumacher."

There you have it! Some of the worst villains can't be found in Arkham.


Read more!

Waited for the Trade: Fear, Fighting, Killing & Birth

by Dan

I don't wait for trades. Trades wait for me. In a big random stack next to my bed. Okay, so the X-O Manowar hardcover is new and I did wait for the trade on BPRD, but I've kept Goon Vol. 0 and the second K Chronicles compendium waiting a good ol' while. The question is, why?





Fear of a Black Marker: Another K Chronicles Compendium - The second collection of Keith Knight's cartoon strip is even more fun than the sheep lovin' good time of Dances with Sheep. Many of the strips are comedic, observational, slice-of-life tales. Nothing is slap-your-knee, laugh-out-loud funny, but every page leaves you smiling. Knight addresses everything from family to race to politics to his hip hop band, Marginal Prophets (check out their album Bohemian Rap CD for some fun stuff). 130 pages of smart, funny, well-drawn, wordy strips that everyone can relate to. A

Check out more Keef-tastic stuff here.


The Goon Vol. 0: Rough Stuff - Eric Powell's first self-published three-issue attempt at telling the story of the Goon. All the basics are here, but as the title suggests, it's all a little rough. The Goon and Franky are drawn in a mostly recognizable fashion, but the Goon's giant overbite in these early appearances is oddly distracting. The intro page to this collection actually makes note of the artistic changes and goofs on oddball creative decisions (even by Goon standards) in an incredibly funny, self-deprecating way. But, dammit, I want more talking chainsaws! B+


BPRD Vol. 8: Killing Ground - I have a hard time getting into the Hellboy series. I blame my inability to comprehend metaphor. But these BPRD books about the supporting cast are just rip-roaring fun. This volume is a bit frustrating as nothing in particular gets resolved. More than anything, it's just some excellent horror comic with a crazy Wendigo, two mystery men infiltrating the BPRD headquarters, a hero showing his true fangs and lots and lots of blood. Killing Ground does move the major plot points forward, but just doesn't give any satisfactory conclusions. B


X-O Manowar: Birth - This is a collection of X-O Manowar #0-6 with a new 10 page story. I actually read these issues about six years ago and I think I enjoyed it more in its original format. I don't know if the idea of a 6th century Visigoth in 20th century New York with the most powerful alien suit of armor ever just didn't work as well the second time around, or if the technical flaws in this hardcover edition ruined the fun.

At first, I thought it was just a case of bad lettering in the original comics. However, a page-to-page comparison shows that for this edition, Valiant Entertainment chose to shrink the panels to the point where the lettering now butts into the panel's border. Additionally, they've noticeably cut off the tops and bottoms of many splash pages. Finally, a big draw of these editions is supposed to be the recoloring by the original colorists. Sadly, the changes are too subtle to make any impact.

But for all those complaints, there is a lot of good too. The art from Joe Quesada and Steve Ditko, #0 and #6, respectively, is outstanding. And there really is something refreshing (or is it just nostalgia kicking in?) about the shared universe that Valiant did so well and Valiant Entertainment is honoring by releasing these hardcovers. The first hardcover was Harbinger, a team of super powered kids fighting the good fight. No one would be lost reading X-O without that, but when the kids show up in the fourth chapter here, it adds a wonderful extra layer. B- Read more!

Readers of the Last Arc: Freddy vs Jason vs Ash

by Dan

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash - I read on a message board that this was based on the script from the scrapped movie of the same name. Since you should always have two sources, I decided to verify that and read on Wikipedia that this is "Based on the original Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash film treatment by Jeff Katz." A message board and Wikipedia, that's two sources, so it must be true. And since I thought the original Freddy vs. Jason movie was so laughably bad it was good, I was looking forward to this mini.

The story starts five years after the end of the Freddy vs. Jason movie with Freddy stalking Jason's brain trying to get Jason to make him whole again. At the same time, a certain S-Mart employee named Ash transfers to the new Crystal Lake area Super S-Mart. Ash is the narrator of this tale and it sets a great, snarky, badass tone for the book. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that while I enjoy the ridiculousness of Freddy and Jason movies, I really don't like Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2. I enjoyed Bruce Campbell in them and like the character of Ash, but I don't enjoy them as movies. Considering my gross dislike of the Spider-Man franchise, I'm going to say it's all Sam Raimi's fault.)

The dialogue, pace and humor in this mini-series are all spot on for a slasher film transfered to the comic page. I applaud the writers for this, as it seems many Hollywood to Comics scripters have difficulty adjusting to the format (see my Dan Goes Deeper: Joss Whedon article next Wednesday). To be fair, Katz is only credited with the "story," while regular Army of Darkness comics writer James Kuhoric does the heavy lifting.


I only have two knocks on the writing; 1) the intros/recaps to each issue are far too long and wordy, almost eclipsing the entire word count for the rest of the issue and 2) the phrase "playing grabass" was used three times by two characters in back-to-back issues. It was amusing the first time, an odd choice the second time and just lazy feeling the third time. But, really, those are nitpicks to an otherwise surprisingly fun read.

The best part of this mini-series was that we didn't stand around playing grabass (see, seems forced, doesn't it?) for five issues with a big fight in the sixth issue. Jason was slashing people up in the first issue. The focus moved to Freddy and Jason in the second issue and by the middle of the third issue we were in full-blown Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash territory.

Unfortunately, the art is nowhere near the quality of the writing. As the mini progresses the art get looser and looser to the point that characters facial structure change from panel to panel, and not just because their jaw was blown off with a shotgun. Additionally, the artists had a bad habit of turning what was supposed to be looks of surprise into something that looked like the lady who pops her eyes out of her eye sockets. On a positive art note, the first two issues have fantastic covers - J. Scott Campbell provides three interlocking covers for issue #1 and Eric Powell does an amazing job on #2, particularly when it's just the pencils and inks of the second printing cover.

If you're a fan of slasher flicks, WildStorm's previous Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street books, or just like a slightly silly, fun, action comic I think this mini-series is well worth checking out. B Read more!

Free Comic Book Day Review Day

by Dan
Customer Appreciation Day Free Comic Book Day was this past weekend. How did the companies do with their various free offerings?

All-Star Superman #1 - I've read this twice already; my wife bought the first issue and then borrowed the hardcover from the library. I wasn't in love with it like most people were, but I decided to give it another go with an eye toward how this works as an FCBD promo book. I still don't care for Grant Morrison's techno babble or any of the Luther scenes, but the overall story and some of the Big Ideas I like. Also, the one page recap of Superman's origin - four panels, eight words - is perfect. Frank Quitely's artwork is wonderful. He leaves a good bit of dead space, but that actually forces you to focus on the great characters. B

Amelia Rules! - This book is full of good and bad. Good: It's Amelia Rules, which is an awesome book. Bad: It's mostly a reprint of the most recent issue, #18, which just came out a couple months ago. Good: #18 was an awesome issue. Bad: It's only most of #18. Good: The entire issue is available for free at ameliarules.com/change. The rest was all good too, including a preview of the next issue, photos of a school that put on a play based on an earlier issue and Pajamaman as Indiana Jones. This is the best all-ages book out there and one of the best all around books. A

Friendly Neighborhood Editor's note: This book was not at her comic shop, where she went to score some goodies for her nine year old nephew. Your FNE hates the comic shop down the road.

Ape Entertainment's Cartoona Palooza - The stories in this anthology range from the way too serious (Ursula Wilde - a female croc hunter type) to all out cheesy (Go-Go Gorilla and the Jungle Crew). Out of the five short stories, only one, White Picket Fences, left any real impression. The story was average, but the art was fantastic. Tim Lattie provided the pencils and Brian Mead provided the color. I'm not familiar with either name, but I hope to see them on bigger projects very soon. Their work is something of a classic animation meets Sam Kieth with a little Mike Ploog thrown in. Just wonderful stuff. Too bad it's lost in an otherwise bland comic. C-

Arcana Presents #4 - I've picked up all four of these Arcana preview books and I'm reminded every time that Arcana's stuff just isn't up my alley. Kade is their signature character and every time I've read a story with him, my interest quickly wanes. It's too much globe trotting fantasy for my taste. Burn was an interesting concept, but I don't know that we even got the full idea or if the pencil & ink art was complete. I hope it wasn't. Gwai was a cute, odd forest creature book until they went the Kill Bambi's Mom route in the last panel. 100 Girls is another regular book they push in these anthologies that I've never connected with. There was nothing particularly wrong or bad about this issue, just not for me. C+

Atomic Robo/Neozoic - I've never heard of Red 5 Comics, but the ideas in these two stories grabbed my attention. The results... Atomic Robo borrows a bit too much from Hellboy. Actually, it borrows almost everything from Hellboy other than instead of a red demon, the lead character is a robot. However, the art is fantastic. Scott Wegener should be snatched up by Marvel or DC very soon because, honestly, his talents are going to waste on this title. Neozoic is an interesting idea that just doesn't pan out. The big idea is that the meteor that killed the dinosaurs hit the moon instead and man and dino evolved together. Not a bad idea, but the story is little more than a Savage Land fill-in story from X-Men Unlimited and, while there is clear potential in the artists, the art has a lot of anatomy and perspective issues that are distracting. Overall, the writing is a big disappointment, but Wegener is a definite find. C-

Bongo Comics Free-For-All - Three different stories from three of Bongo's Simpson Comics and they are all winners. The first story is from Simpsons Super Spectacular, which was a six issue mini-series of the Simpsons characters in all their various super-hero identities. It's a fun story that focuses on Bart, Lisa and Maggie. The second story was about Bart trying to be as smelly as possible to get back at Marge for taking his tv privileges away. It's a fun bit from the Bart Simpson series. The last short story is far and away the best; a look at Simpsons comics from around the world with several pages of a manga version of Simpsons Comics. The manga style version of the characters is fantastic and fun. The characters are an amalgam of their tv versions and some weird, real world people. The story itself, something about a baseball game, is just a setting to show the incredibly visuals. Fun story choices all around. A-

Broken Trinity Prelude - Top Cow's offering is a direct spin-off from last year's First Born mini-series. The issue does a very good job of giving a complete overview of Witchblade, Darkness and Angelus, but Sejic's art is too much like 1995 CGI (think the ReBoot cartoon). Also included are previews of Darkness and Witchblade regular ongoing series. A decent primer for the upcoming Broken Trinity story if that's something you're into. B-

Drafted - This is a neat little recap of the first six issues from Devil's Due. They've cut out select pages of issues #0-5 and tied them all together with a running monologue. Very nicely done as it provides everything you need to understand this very impressive and ambitious series about all of earth having to quickly prepare to join an intergalactic war to save the planet. While the art does a decent job of telling the story, it has some really weak moments, particularly when there's a lot going on in a single panel. If there's a bunch of background all the lines start to blend together and all depth to the art is lost. Thankfully, there are a lot of blank or simple backgrounds to keep that from happening. I'm going to have to put the first trade on the To Buy List, as this just hit all the right storytelling notes for me. A-

Hellboy - The main story here is The Mole, which is a fantastic Hellboy short story. Mignola's story is dark yet simple and fun. And while it would have been great to get Mignola on art too, Duncan Fregredo does some really solid work here. The two back up stories of the BPRD are hit, Out of Reach, and miss, Bishop Olek's Devil. This is a solid, fun package for current Hellboy fans or just the casual comic fan. B+






Kids Love Comics: Comic Book Diner - A bunch of short stories featuring Roboy, Patrick the Wolf Boy, Dreamland Chronicles, Banana Tail, Buzzboy and Tbyrd Fearlessness. I was already familiar with all but Tbyrd and, as usual, enjoyed Roboy, Wolf Boy, Banana and Buzzboy. Those are very good, all-ages characters with a lot of love put in by their creators. Dreamland Chronicles is okay, but falls into that fantasy genre that I can never get into. And then there's Tbyrd Fearlessness, which just came off as obnoxious and unfunny. It gave me that same Ugh Factor that kicks in when my 9-year-old cousin turns on the Disney Channel. B-

Maintenance - Oni's solicits for this series continually catch my eye, but I've been underwhelmed with Oni's recent products, so I've always passed it up. Now I know I need to grab the trades of this funny series. Two janitors at a wacky science lab who regularly find themselves in trouble is one of those "Why hasn't this been done before?" ideas that just works on every level. There was also a three page preview for Resurrection by Marc Guggenheim that I loved. The promo page reads "Aliens invade. They devastate the planet. You've heard it all before, right? Okay, smart guy... what happens after they leave?" which wraps up the preview to a T. Add to that my mancrush on Guggenheim after watching the first season of Eli Stone and I need to get this book now! A-

Editor's note: Your FNE LURVES Eli Stone.

Marvel Adventures - Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man and Ant-Man (hmm... what do all those characters have in common?) team-up to fight the Mandarin and protect a giant ant colony in Machu Picchu. I'm pretty sure the writer, Jeff Parker, was paid $50 a mention by the Machu Picchu Board of Tourism as there is just an abusive overuse of the name. There are a couple funny one-liners, but overall, this is a very, very average comic book. C

Moth Special Edition - I read the original Moth special when Dark Horse published it a few years ago, but didn't care for it. This issue recaps that special and the four-issue mini-series that came after it. Sadly, as much as I love The Dude's art on Nexus, I've had more than enough circus freaks stories for a lifetime and just couldn't get into this everyman hero and his carney folk. C-

Neotopia Vol 3 - That's right, Antarctic Press offered up an entire digest sized trade for FCBD. I'm guessing there was a big overstock on these books or maybe the giant staples through the spine have something to do with it, but whatever the reason, a 160-page digest is nothing to sneeze at. In all honesty, I've only gotten through the first chapter and while the story is a bit meandering, the draw to this book is clearly the art. Writer/Artist Rod Espinosa creates a lush world with some American Manga sensibilities. The line work is fantastic. The story is very "heroes journey" right now, but it looks like we're heading toward a very Planet of the Apes reveal. I look forward to the next four chapters. B+

Owly and Friends - Owly is another great all-ages book with wordless storytelling through fantastic art. The $10 digest-sized graphic novels are must-own. The friends in the title include Korgi, Johnny Boo and Yam. Korgi debuted last year in an attempt to be the new Owly, but for some reason it just doesn't work as well. Probably because I find the realistic art oddly creepy. Johnny Boo and Yam are two new attempts at all ages books from Top Shelf. Yam is yet another take on the wordless storytelling and is interesting and surreal. Boo is by James Kochalka and would appeal to his diehard fans, but I think it fails at being both as funny as it wants to be and all-ages. B

Project Superpowers: Death Defying 'Devil #2 - I've now read three issues of Project Superpower (#0, #1 and this issue) and all three have left me with the same thought, "Intriguing but kind of tedious to get through." The art is good, if a little stiff and I like the premise, but I just don't know. An uncertain B.

Salem: Queen of Thorns - Boom Studios contribution to FCBD was this slightly odd, kind of undefined book. The story is set in the days of the witch hunts in colonial Salem, Mass, but I'm not entirely sure what the point of the book is. It's not bad, but it all sort of went in one eye and out the other. The unclear art during action sequences didn't help matters either. C-

Sonic the Hedgehog #1 - I've always wondered how Sonic the freaking Hedgehog has been able to sustain a comic book (and various spin-offs and mini-series) for 15 years, so when my wife grabbed a copy of the first issue reprint for her nine year old nephew, I had to check it out. After reading this issue, it's clear that the book has stuck around because it's just plain fun. The stories and characters all had a great sense of humor that readers old and young can appreciate. There are plenty of winks and nudges to the reader about this being a comic and that they are video game characters. All in all, it's a surprisingly entertaining package. A-

Tiny Titans #1 - This was a cute, fun book by the creators of Patrick the Wolfboy. The stories run one to five pages with minimal dialogue and always end on a cute, funny joke. It's a very quick, light read. As a freebie, this is a great little book, but I couldn't imagine paying the regular $2.25 cover price for the two minute read. B+

Also not at your FNE's stupid comic shop.





Virgin Comics - Three previews of new Virgin books include Dan Dare by Ennis & Erskine, Ramayan 3392AD Reloaded and Stranded by Carey & Kotian. Dan Dare, a relaunch of a classic UK character, was fantastic. It's like a sober version Remender's Fear Agent. The art is wonderful and there are none of the typical Ennis writing ticks. I may have to check this series out. Ramayan goes into that fantasy genre I don't care about. Stranded is a SciFi tv series turned into a comic. Frankly, it didn't make much sense and I can't tell if that falls to the general premise or my dislike of Mike Carey's writing. A big ol' A for Dan Dare, but D's for the other two stories, so C.

Walt Disney's Gyro Gearloose - I always struggle with these annual collections of various Disney comics from Gemstone Publishing. The main thing is that previous books (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey and Robin Hood) are reprints of 50 year old material and, frankly, haven't aged very well. Gearloose appears to be a more recent character, as most of the stories here are reprinted from 1990s comics. There is one story from 1960 and that one definitely has Golden Age story telling sensibilities. The later stories are okay, but the writing lays out every single thing the characters are going to do via dialogue, again and again. It's all too straight forward. While kids young and old can enjoy Sonic the Hedgehog #1, these stories are very much geared towards five to eight year olds. C-

Worlds of Aspen #3 - Aspen has had a very narrow focus as a publisher, with a dozen Fathom and Soulfire series, minis and spin-offs. Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between the art or the characters or the stories of Fathom and Soulfire. I've even read the first nine issues of the original Fathom and was unimpressed by it all. This issue gives us previews of Fathom Vol 3 #0 and Soulfire #8 and my opinion on those series remains the same. Also in this issue is a preview of Shrugged #8, which has an interesting hook, but this preview, #1 and #5's preview in the previous FCBD books fall apart in the execution. Executive Assistant: Iris is a preview of a trained killer as executive assistant that may do well for a short mini series. I'll see how I feel about that in the winter when it comes out. C

X-Men - Unlike most of this weekend's offerings, this issue of X-Men is a brand new 22-page story created just for the FCBD crowd. The story is by Mike Carey and Greg Land. I have some negative feelings about the previous work of both guys (including Carey's run on X-Men/X-Men Legacy), but let's see how this stands up as a free giveaway. Mike Carey's writing has always felt disjointed and without any sense of real conversational flow and unfortunately the same holds true here. I was nodding off to sleep every few pages. Well, maybe that's because the first 10 pages were about Pixie, a former New X-Men student and not about the X-Men this book is titled after. After the X-Men finally show up and save Pixie from the N'garai (a group of alternate dimension lizard demons, that are one of the X-Men's most random, infrequent and annoying enemies), they tell Pixie that she should return to school. And, yup, that's it. This wouldn't have made for a very good fill-in issue of New X-Men during its run, so I have no idea why Marvel thought this should be a story that needed to have a million copies in print. D-

Free Comic Book Day let me revisit old friends like Amelia Rules! and Owly, add new trades to hunt down like Drafted and Maintenance and new artists to watch for such as Lattie & Mead and Wegener. So, maybe it's not such a bad thing to have a little customer appreciation from the publishers (hey, I paid $6.56 plus shipping for my books - $0.34 for a full-color digest, awesome!). Read more!

Waited for the Trade

by Dan

One week. Five trades. Yeah, I'm more than ready for my monthly comics. But in the meantime, I've read trades from Goon to Bone and Mahfood to Wood. It's been an interesting mash up of stuff from the To Read Pile.


Goon Vol. 3 – This series just gets better and better with each volume. After a slightly slow, but still entertaining start, things pick up with the second chapter. A space blob attacks Earth, and after the Goon quickly beats it silly, the alien merges with a Mexican horny toad and the fists and one-liners start flying. This is my favorite single story of The Goon (so far). Check out this trade, which also features Hellboy and a vampire succubus! If you can’t shell out the $12.95, at least get Dark Horse’s The Goon #6 for the Mexican horny toad story. A


Fight for Tomorrow – I read a lot of comics based on the writers. I'll get anything by Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Greg Rucka (non-DC), Sean McKeever, Christos Gage and Scott Morse without knowing anything about the project. A couple of years ago, Brian Wood became one of these writers. In 2002, Wood wrote Fight for Tomorrow, a six-issue mini-series from Vertigo. I picked up the mini on the cheap from a friend (thanks, Kach!) but I prefer Wood’s stuff in trade as it is all incredibly rereadable. The story is about Cedric, who was kidnapped as a boy and trained to fight in illegal MMA-style fights. Once he breaks free of that world, only one thing can bring him back: the love of his life's disappearance. A great Brian Wood read with fantastic, moody art by Denys Cowan. The only negative is the cheap paper quality DC uses for its Vertigo trades. A-


The Further Adventures of One Page Filler Man – I’m a big Jim Mahfood fan. Granted, I didn’t “get” the Generation X Underground Special that came out 10 years ago. But when I stumbled across his various works at Oni a couple years later, I developed a great appreciation for his art and writing. One Page Filler Man is possibly his most surreal work to date. OPFM and his ice cream-loving kid sidekick have various successful hero adventures (like fighting zombie ninjas and searching for the mysterious Agent B, aka 80s pop sensation Billy Ocean) while OPFM babbles nonsense and recites the dictionary both forward and back. A strange yet entertaining read. B


Star Trek: The Key Collection Vol. 4 – I never really expected to like these early 70s Star Trek stories when I got the first trade, but the simplicity in the art and dialogue allows the plot to take center stage. And while the plots are somewhat repetitive (and Prime Directive busting) – find new planet, fix their problems – they are all enjoyable. The best story in this volume was the final chapter, due to a great Planet of the Apes-style twist. While a little expensive (around $23 a trade), Checker Book Publishing has done a good job of bringing these fun, old stories to today's Trek fans. B-


Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails – Well, it is fun reading the phrase "Big Johnson Bone" every other page, but other than that, the story was generic and predictable. The tall tales BJB told were a bit overbearing. But Jeff Smith's art is awesome and he draws the cutest baby bear ever - a combination of an actual bear cub and a teddy bear. The back up story about a pig was almost unreadable. The characters weren't likeable and the attempts at humor weren’t funny in the least. C+ Read more!